Tag Archives: gardens

Last weekend, my school back in DC organized a free trip to the gardens of Claude Monet at Giverny. We were incredibly lucky with getting weather that was absolutely perfect! The sun was shining and the temperature was just right, a very important factor in the overall Giverny experience. This was really my first time leaving Paris since arriving and driving through the countryside was just beautiful! There were farmhouses everywhere with cows, horses and we even saw an ostrich!

Walking into the gardens was absolutely breathtaking! We arrived early enough in the season so that the flowers were still in bloom and growing wildly. It was very interesting to contrast this trip to the Versailles gardens where nature was completely tamed by the human hand. I do know Monet did a lot of planning with these gardens in terms of choosing what types of flowers to plant and where.

These two photos above are from the gardens that surround all of the buildings including Monet’s house and studio. We then had to take some sort of underground tunnel to the gardens of the famous water-lilies that really exemplified the Asian influence on Monet’s art.

the water-lilies!

recognize the bridge?

We were also able to go into Monet’s house was just adorable. My family friends used to have an 18th century farmhouse in Katonah, Westchester which was decorated in a very similar old French country way and walking through the house really brought back some great memories. The color scheme of the house was yellow and blue which was apparently Monet’s favorite color combination. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the house but I made sure to buy some great postcards.

So it was a great trip and it was nice to leave Paris for a change of scenery (especially scenery this beautiful!) I’m glad I decided to go even though it meant waking up at 7am and would definitely recommend it as a stop for warm weather Parisian travelers.